Going up!

I'm thrilled to report that the walls are going up!

Dan Largent completed the block walls a week or so ago. Popp Excavating came back out to back fill in preparation for pouring the garage slab, established the new driveway grade, and installed our (GIANT) new septic tank & field. We are now well prepared for lots of visitors to come and use the bathroom! Well, except that we don't actually have a working bathroom.... minor detail.;)

Ben and Tom also spent a lot of time re-forming and pouring new walls for the (old) basement access steps to replace the crumbling stone walls that were there. The Concrete Service came out last weekend to pour that part. All told, there is nearly 22,000 pounds of concrete now helping to support the old foundation where it had crumbled.

Ben in the basement checking out the new concrete walls

While the guys worked hard on that, Elsie and I took a bike ride to Barb's Bakery! She did great on the nearly 3 mile round trip!
















This week might have been the most exciting for me... to see the walls go up! The concrete floors have not yet been poured, that will happen this week. But, four walls for the garage are in place! Floor trusses are coming next for the second story.

 I'm not sure, but it seems like we may be tracking close to "on-schedule" for a labor-day move in. That's good news, considering we're expecting a new baby boy at the end of October;)

In a fitting father's day, Ben and his dad spent the entire day today building stairs to the basement in the new bilco access and ran conduit for future use for plumbing and electrical if needed under the garage floor.

We are so fortunate to have such great dads (and our entire family) in our lives!

Elsie and Nana exploring at Peterson Park.

Building a Strong Foundation...

The bar was set pretty high with the existing foundation of the house in darn good shape after 130 years! Ben and his team are doing their best to ensure this one lasts just as well.

Pleasantly surprised by the nice topsoil!

After Popp Excavating completed the earthwork in just one day, we thought it would be smooth sailing ahead... and then it rained. And rained. And rained.

Turns out changing a tractor tire isn't easy.

It seemed that Monday - Friday were torrential downpours, but we did get a few nice days in between.

Elsie is learning to be a great mechanic & farm hand!

We took those sunny day opportunities to get back up to Northport to replace the tire on Ben's tractor and begin the much needed process of pulling out all the Autumn Olive on the property! We've made quite a dent, but still much, much more to be done!

Operation invasive species removal underway!

Another pleasant surprise: It turns out we have a sliver of a bay view
from the top of the hill behind the house!

 So, it was just last week that the guys were able to hand dig the footings for the new construction.  It was surprisingly hard digging for this area.  Instead of the "sugar sand" we expected, it was mostly clay, gravel, and heavy loam.  While not the easiest material to work with, we can sleep easy knowing that footings won't be moving any.  The building inspector was happy with the work and gave us approval to pour concrete. Dan Largent, our mason , and his crew quickly installed the re-bar and leveled the wet concrete.

We lucked out with more great weather today (yay!) and the team got to work on the block walls for the crawl space and garage. It's amazing to see the progress!

Hopefully, it really will be smoother sailing from here on out... the weather forecast looks good, for now!

Ground Breaking!

Hooray! We broke ground last week for the new breezeway + garage addition. Thanks to the great work of Popp Excavating, the site work is already done!

Next up: concrete. As has been the case for months now, the weather is not cooperating. Our mason is likely a bit behind schedule finishing up another job since it has basically been pouring rain all week. Hopefully we'll be able to get started on the masonry this week.

The photo below, left, shows the old cistern which captured rain water. This was actually one of the things we thought was the coolest about the house when we bought it, so it was a little sad to see it go. The crew also uncovered the septic tank - behind the house! That was a bit of a surprise, but digging into a 130 year old house, nothing should really surprise us!

The photo on the right doesn't show the tank, but that is where it was. It was at the bottom of a hill, under the roof runoff, and right up tight to the house. We cleared a bunch of brush from behind the house to make room for a future patio and to improve drainage away from the house. Clearly, that tank wasn't serviceable, so the crew smashed it and filled it with sand. Day one and Ben already had to go back to the county office to apply for another permit!

The big machines did a great job and it was exciting to see what quick work they made of it! However, with the old stone foundation of the house, they didn't want to risk damaging it. So, Ben and Tom spent the whole day Friday hand digging and moving several thousand pounds of rocks out of the way to make room for new footings.


While they were up there working, a visitor named Allan stopped by. If we're remembering correctly, he's a nephew of Ralph Snyder, the former owner. Allan had lots of great stories to share and told Ben his memories of how the house used to be arranged. Apparently, one of the Garthes (Paul) - a relative of the previous owners- worked at GM/Frigidaire which may be the reason we ended up with the cool old Frigidaire in the "vulture shack." Eventually, it will be moving back in to roughly the same place it came from as a pantry!

That's all for now, but we're excited to be moving ahead quickly now on the new addition. Progress on the original house will likely be slow to non-existent until this piece is done. Stay tuned!

Aaaaand....We're Back!

The incessant frigid temps and ever-growing snow drifts finally won. We had filled our dumpster trailer and couldn't get it out of the snow...so we quit. We took the month of March off from even attempting to make any progress on the house.

Elsie got new breeches and boots for her 4th Bday!

Finally, the snow is almost completely gone and we've had some really nice days to get back in the saddle, so to speak!

Instead of getting right back into the mess of plaster indoors, we enjoyed some time working outdoors. Since nothing is growing yet, it was a great time to see the lay of the land...which included a fair amount of old fencing, plastic sheeting, and more strewn throughout the fields. We picked that up, cut down some over-grown shrubs in front of the house, and completely stuffed that dumpster which can now finally be taken away!

The outdoor work involved a bit of a mud bath!

May be a bit over the max. suggested weight!

This week broght some big news! Our building permits for the new addition are ready to go! The excavators are just waiting for frost laws to be lifted and we'll be on our way! Ben and Tom will be ordering lumber on Monday and we may be able to break ground as early as Tuesday! WooHoo!!

We made some more progress indoors again this weekend. Still plugging away -just starting, actually:(- on plaster on the 2nd floor and Ben's taking down the third and final chimney. The bricks on this one are in good shape, so we're saving them until we come up with a creative way to use them...any ideas?

Stay tuned for updates on the new construction! Happy Spring, and Happy Easter from Addi;)

Winter

So much snow!

We're in the thick of the snowiest winter here since 1996. And, while we are all for the adventure of living "way up north," and the season so far has been beautiful, I have to admit, it has also been a challenge.

Recently, Ben and his dad made the trek up to take a look at how to jack up the house and re-build the post/beam/joist system in the basement. After a few hours in the house, they came out to head back to TC and found this:

Seriously!?

Needless to say, they had to dig.

We've continued to get up there every weekend, but it's not easy. We have to constantly dig a path to the front door, dig out the snow that has accumulated on top of the dumpster trailer, and keep moving to stay warm! (That's the easy part;).

Intersection of Kitchen & Garthe is a snow tunnel

To keep up the momentum, we've been removing the three brick chimneys from inside the house. We estimate there may have been as many as 8-10 wood stoves in the home at one time. Unfortunately, the chimneys are no longer serviceable (in fact they no longer even extend out of the attic) and don't fit in the new floor plan, so down they come!

The trailer is nearly full but now there's no way American Waste will be able to get it out until we are able to clear a path from it's parking spot in front of the house... 

Pitching bricks from the attic down the hole from the first
chimney we removed.

While its stuck here, we've also been throwing bricks into the trailer from
an upstairs window. Works pretty well!

This is the brick landing spot on the first floor

Of course, there's lots more to do. We'll be getting back to tearing plaster off the walls upstairs next. We may have to wait to haul it out until we can get a new trailer in, however. In the meantime, we're working on getting permits and a loan for the new construction portion of the project. We've gotten bids from a few great contractors that we trust, but we always struggle (read: choke) with the "real" costs versus our typical "do-it-yourself" approach. Stay tuned for work-bee opportunities!;)

So, we're trying to strike a balance this winter between continued forward motion on the house project and enjoying the season. In addition to TONS of snow, Grand Traverse Bay is also frozen and is a fantastic natural play ground. Here are a few pics from the last few weeks...

On the ice at the end of Old Mission Peninsula

Old Mission Light House

 

Bruno & Addi at Old Mission

Until next time, stay warm out there, friends! 

Almost 50%?

It has been a while since the last post, mainly because I was hoping to have something noteworthy to report. Alas, all I can say is that we're ALMOST half done with demolition! And, even that may not be true, as we will still have more demo to do as part of the reno. For now, we're just focused on removing the old plaster, lath, sheeting, etc from all the walls, ceilings, etc.

The last few weeks have been tough to motivate. We've had lots of great snow and cold temps...it would be fun to go sledding or skiing, but instead, we load up our old 1998 pickup and head to Northport. We're grateful for the 4x4 as we experience our first Northport winter!

We enjoyed the holidays with family and our daughter, Elsie, has lots of great new toys to play with. Thankfully, Nana and Papa are always willing to spend some extra time playing while we head out to work on the house!

So, after enjoying the holidays, and eating way too much, Ben and I are back to work. We've hauled out all the plaster from the first floor - HOORAY! Thanks to American Waste for hauling it all away;)

Check it out - this is 10yds almost entirely full of plaster.

Now, with the exception of some remaining sheets of drywall and plywood on one end of the kitchen, the walls are done. The only other challenge remaining on the first floor is pressboard and linoleum on the floors in the kitchen, dining, and half of the new living area:( The kitchen and dining areas should be relatively easy - Ben already removed this added flooring in the bathroom - as it on top of tapered 2x4 firring strips rather than applied directly to the floor. The old dining/future living area may be more difficult as it looks to be attached directly to the pine floors:(

Kitchen with remaining drywall and flooring

Kitchen walls with sheeting removed.

Old door opening in former dining area - opens into basement stairwell.

bedroom looking into bathroom - all cleaned up!

So... we are getting closer every week, but it's not easy or fast! We're hoping to be on to the second floor within a few weeks...a month?? Stay tuned:)

Community

The holiday season is upon us, so it seems fitting to share some thoughts on "community."

We've laughed over the past few months that more people have dropped by to visit us in Northport than ever did in the seven years we lived in Long Lake Township in Traverse City!

It has been fun to share our adventure with those who are interested. We've had family and friends up to camp in the front yard of the house in Northport. Max Strickland, our energy efficiency guru visited with his family. David & Lisa Cooper dropped by with out of town guests. After visiting the Leelanau Children's Center, Berkeley stopped by with some (delicious) sustenance for us while we were working - how nice is that!?

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of attending the Northport holiday celebration complete with a brass band, Christmas caroling, and the official tree lighting.

So far, we are really enjoying getting to know the Northport community, and appreciate the warm welcome:)